As of the writing of this post today, Dorothy Brown’s records are not online.

DuPage county does not allow laptops or cell phone in the court house (why is that?)

The Cook County satellite courts do not allow cell phones or laptop in the courthouse (why is that?)

As a result, it looks like something really, really fishy is going on in Illinois.

In an open and democratic country all court records, including appellate court records and briefs (why rewrite a brief, just get one case that has already explored the issue, why rehash the past, when in fact we should be advancing the law).

In an open an democratic country, you should be able to bring your laptop into court and take notes, blog or whatever.  You can’t do that in Illinois.  We have an US and Illinois constitution but apparently those stop working when you cross the courtroom door threshold.

So if you get a chance today, please write your elected or appointed Clerk of Court and demand that they make all court records available for cheap or free.

From Google:  Dorothy Brown Clerk of Court

Address: Richard J Daley Center, 50 W Washington St, Chicago, IL 60602

Ask her to get all court records online and only charge 8 cents per page or less like Pacer does in Federal Court.  It’s kind of like blackmail when the taxpayer owns the court documents, and then they want to sell them back to you at 25 cents a page or more. those are YOUR documents.  Ask her to permit the use of cell phones and laptops in the courtrooms because that’s provided for under the US and Illinois constitutions.

For Federal Appellate records, apparently the Federal Documents services used to do this, but now all records are online.  Pacer goes back to 2000 for every appellate case, so check there for old briefs and records.

Please write the clerks of court for each Illinois Appellate court and demand they put all briefs and motions online for the public to see.

1st District Appellate
Clerk’s Office

(no name on website for clerk)
160 North LaSalle St.
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 793-5484 
Office Hours: 8:30 – 4:30
2nd District Appellate
Clerk’s Office

Mr. Robert Mangan, Clerk
Appellate Court Building
55 Symphony Way
Elgin, IL 60120
(847) 695-3750
Office Hours: 8:30 – 4:30
3rd District Appellate
Clerk’s Office

Ms. Barbara Trumbo, Clerk
1004 Columbus Street
Ottawa, IL 61350
(815) 434-5050
Office Hours: 8:30 – 4:30
4th District Appellate
Clerk’s Office

Ms. Carla Bender, Clerk
201 West Monroe Street
P.O. Box 19206
Springfield, IL 62794-9206
(217) 782-2586
Office Hours: 8:30 – 4:30
5th District Appellate
Clerk’s Office

Mr. John Flood, Clerk
14th & Main Street
Mt. Vernon, IL 62864
(618) 242-3120
Office Hours: 8:30 – 4:30

Also write the presiding judge,  Illinois Supreme Court

Mr. Lloyd Karmeier

Ms. Carolyn Taft Grosboll, Clerk

Clerk’s Office – Springfield
Supreme Court Building
200 E. Capitol Springfield, IL 62701
(217) 782-2035

If anyone can call and get their email addresses, that would be great too!

Joanne